Witchfire and Bulletstorm Creator Criticizes Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s Early Levels but Calls It His Game of the Year
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a game loved by millions and considered a masterpiece by many, having also won several awards.
Even those who appreciate it can still criticize certain aspects. This is the case with Adrian Chmielarz, founder of The Astronauts (The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, Witchfire) and People Can Fly (Painkiller, Bulletstorm, Gears of War).
Adrian Chmielarz’s Thoughts on Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Speaking with PCGamesN, Chmielarz said there are parts of the game he understands and others that completely puzzle him, though he still considers it his Game of the Year 2025.
“The one I understand is that [Sandfall] really didn’t have to spend a lot of time on AI,” he says. “There’s no pathfinding, there’s no navigation of 3D spaces for enemies against your NPCs, so that’s much easier.”
He added, “Then they do these fairly static levels – you can observe their evolution, because the first levels are actually kind of old school; I would even go so far as to say that they’re kind of badly designed. But, by the end of the game, they’re large and spectacular – it’s clear they were learning as they were going.”
A Unique Collaboration and Creative Energy
Chmielarz also praised the French studio’s creativity:
“What I also understand but appreciate is how unhinged [Sandfall] is,” he laughs. “The French actually cooperate a lot with Japan when it comes to animation, so when you go to a French bookstore, you see entire floors dedicated to comic books – in their case, more graphic novels than comic books. [There’s] that imagination that they still cherish
I’m super, super happy to see a Japanese game, but made by Europeans – usually it’s the other way around [where] the Japanese guys [make] games in the European style, like Silent Hill. That was fascinating.”
Finally, Chmielarz expressed admiration for the game’s production quality: “The thing that I do not understand is how they managed to put so much production value into this game – these cutscenes are just world class, absolutely triple-A. Sometimes the biggest studios don’t have this quality.”
He continued, “They weren’t working on the game for that long, all things considered. So when I look at the team and at the timeline and at the quality, I really do not know. I would buy the creative director (Guillaume Broche) a bottle of wine and have a really nice chat with him to steal some secrets. But what they’ve done is, to me, mind-blowingly impressive.”
Lastly, it’s worth noting that the Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 team has stated they are not planning to expand for their next games.
